


Something So Right

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M, Romance, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-04-12
Updated: 2005-04-12
Packaged: 2019-05-15 21:13:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14798069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? In the aftermath of the first fight, an apology.





	Something So Right

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**Something So Right**

**by: Francesca**

**Pairing(s):** CJ/Sam  
**Category(s):** Song Fic/Romance  
**Rating:** TEEN  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters (I wish) but am just borrowing them for a while, I will put them back – honest, no copyright infringement is intended. I’m just taking Sam Seaborn’s advice #grins# "Good writers borrow from other writers. Great writers steal from them outright." I'm not borrowing or stealing, just sneaking some use while no one's looking.  
**Summary:** What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? In the aftermath of the first fight, an apology.  
**Author's Note:** This can be read as a companion piece to the ‘What’s Next’ series. The song is Paul Simon’s ‘Something so Right’. 

He marches through the corridors of the Hill as he heads towards his office, and he knows his face is still set in a hard line. He doesn’t notice the strange looks that he’s getting in the halls but the Staffers, Congressmen and Senators know Sam Seaborn from way back, know him from before he was the Freshman Congressman for the California 47th and they know that this isn’t the Sam they’re used too. 

Cathy’s sitting in his outer office, her desk already piled with briefings and papers. She looks up at him and the hello she was about to offer dies on her lips. He doesn’t glare, doesn’t speak, just walks into his office and slams the door, hard. 

Sometimes, he thinks C.J is an impossible woman. He loves her, no question about it, but she won’t listen, and last night was, he drags his hands through his hair, last night the irresistible force met the immovable object. He knew he’d lost the ability to argue reasonably when he began to raise his voice, he’s not sure if he shouted at her because she was already shouting at him or because she just wouldn’t listen. 

She was gone when he’d woken up. That was the worst thing, not the angry words the night before but waking up alone, almost like a slap in the face. He hadn’t realised how much he had come to depend on her being there in the morning, though he knows how much he loves waking up beside her. Often when he wakes they’re still curled around each other in some fashion and he’ll watch her sleep, her face relaxed and peaceful. This morning he’d woken to find cold sheets, and C.J gone, with not even a note of farewell. 

He wants to hit something, throw something, pick up the ‘phone and call but that would be a bad move when he’s in this mood and apart from that they’re still a secret, ringing her and having a shouting match is a good way to blow that wide open. The way he feels right now the whole Capitol Building would hear him. And what happens if that’s it, it’s over? Maybe the whole Capitol would hear him cry. 

He hopes it’s not over, that this isn’t the end. But C.J was gone this morning, can this relationship survive a stand up, all out, no holds barred row? Looks like he’s about to find out. 

He picks up the ‘phone and dials a familiar number, there’s still someone he can call. 

“’Lo” 

“Hi Josh, how’s it going?” 

The voice at the other end becomes more awake “Hey Sam. Long time no hear my friend”. 

“Yeh Josh it’s been so long since we’ve met up, I mean lunch yesterday was such a long time ago”. 

There’s a laugh from the ‘phone “and I got such a rollicking from Donna when I got back, I was late and off schedule. Give it a few days she’ll forgive me”. There’s a muffled comment from the other end of the line that Sam can’t make out but can only assume is the voice of Donna Moss. “Make that a week” Josh says ruefully. 

Sam smiles, despite himself, his black mood lifting. “So what’s happening up there?” 

“Same old, same old. But C.J’s in a foul mood. I think she got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning” Yeh Sam thinks, she did, you’re right on the money Josh, but he doesn’t say it. 

“So what’s up with her?” he wonders what she’s said to Josh, and how bad it is. 

“She’s been muttering about men all morning. Last night she was sweetness and light and this morning we’re all boneheaded, stubborn, I think last time I passed her office she was comparing us to mules” 

“Us?” 

“Well not you and me specifically”. That’s a relief. “Just men in general. I’m beginning to wonder if she’s seeing someone ‘cause her moods are all over the place” 

“I heard that” interjects a voice that is, this time, unmistakeably Donna Moss. 

“Oh Lord” mutters Josh “Please tell me you didn’t fix her up with one of your Gomers Donna? Ainsley hasn’t set up our Democratic Press Secretary with a Republican in the spirit of Blind Date Bi-Partisan Relations?” 

As Sam shakes his head torn between laughter and despair, through the receiver he hears the sound of something being thrown and Josh’s yelp of surprise. 

“You okay?” he asks his friend. 

“Yes but Donna could rake in a fortune pitching for the Mets” Josh tells him. 

Sam sits down in his chair he misses the Josh and Donna show, especially at times like this. 

“So C.J’s in a foul mood?” a little gentle nudging back on track. 

“Yes. But I’ll tell you what’s stranger. She’s completely reversed her strategy on H-6573”. 

Sam’s stunned, because the majority of the fight last night had been about H-6573, until the voices were raised, then it became about her not listening, and him not paying attention and just snowballed, and he rests his forehead on his hands for a moment just thinking about it. 

He realises he hasn’t said anything to Josh, “She has?” keep it nonchalant Seaborn. 

“Completely. She’s not the most popular girl in town just now, the Press Office is up in arms and she’s been in the Oval for the best part of two hours selling it to the President, Leo and Toby. In fact are you sure you haven’t spoken to her about it?” Josh’s voice is mildly curious. 

“Who me? No, why?” well he hasn’t spoken to her he thinks, not this morning anyway. 

“Because she sounded a lot like you” Josh tells him “It’s a very Seaborn Style of argument, and there’s a slim chance it may work, but if it doesn’t it's going to take weeks before Toby lets her forget this”. 

Oh Lord, he thinks, what did I do? He knows that since he left C.J’s taken on his role as ‘moral compass’ , as she calls it, but he hadn’t expected her to go in this morning and sell his theory to Leo and the President . Because he can shout and rail at her, but he doesn’t have to carry the can if it goes wrong, it’s not his job, not anymore. But it’s still her job and she loves it, she takes pride in what she does and that she does it and does it well – and he thinks he might have said something about that last night. 

He can hear Donna speak again, but can’t make out what she’s saying. 

“Look Sam I’ve got to go I’ve been summoned to the Oval. Catch you later?” 

“Later” Sam tells him and hangs up. 

Feeling more than a little confused he switches on his computer and opens his email, and the first thing he notices is a message flagged important from a very familiar address. 

Feeling his palms go dry he clicks on it….this could be very good, or very bad, and he doesn’t know which he’s more afraid of right now. 

To: SamSeaborn@Congress.gov.  
From: C.JCregg@Whitehouse.gov  
Subject: 

Hi Sam, 

I left in a bit of a hurry this morning and didn’t get time to leave you a note, I was thinking about what you said last night, about H-6573 and some other things and I think you’re right about the strategy but I don’t have much time to get this straightened out. 

I’m sorry I shouted at you last night, there are some things I’m still getting used to. The whole ‘you/me’ thing is one of them, the other is your mantle of ‘conscience’ which I seem to have inherited whether I want it or not. You’re a hard act to follow did you know that? 

I heard this on the radio on the way to work, it’s a Paul Simon song and I thought it fitted. If you’ve got time later call me? Just not this morning, I’m going to be in the Oval selling the ‘Seaborn Plan’ not because it’s yours, or because I love you, but because it’s the right thing to do. When something goes wrong I’m the first to admit it. And the last one to know, but when I know it’s my job to fix it. Because that’s what I do. 

When something goes right? Well read the lyric. 

C.J 

He looks down at the attached words, and he smiles, slowly. He pulls his hands through his hair again, but now it’s because he’s thinking about the right words to apologise with because he can’t judge C.J by other women, she’s unique. And she was listening…. 

He’ll call her later, and hopefully, tonight she’ll fall asleep in his arms. 


End file.
